twenty eight days after

"So we helped her go." Chip finished. Tears were streaming down Austin's cheeks.

"You knew?" Takumi asked her.

Austin shrugged. "Half." She answered. "I tried to stop her."

"So you guys set off the fireworks." Takumi said.

"How'd you know about the fireworks?" Pudge asked.

"I've been doing a bit of investigating. Well, anyway, that was dumb. You shouldn't have done it. But we all let her go, really. So you think it was a suicide?" He asked.

"Yes." Austin answered.

"Maybe." Pudge said. "I don't see how she could have hit the cop by accident unless she was asleep."

"Maybe she was going to visit her father. Vine Station is on the way." Takumi said.

"Maybe." Pudge said. "Everything is a maybe, isn't it?"

"That isn't." Austin answered. "She would've let me go if it were Vine Station."

"Maybe." Chip said. "Well, here's another one; maybe Jake has answers. We've exhausted other strategies, so I'm calling him tomorrow, okay?"

"He wasn't at her funeral." Austin said. "Call him."

"Yeah, okay. But listen, don't tell him anything that's not relevant. I don't want to know anything unless it's going to help me know where she was going and why." Pudge replied.

"Me neither, actually." Takumi said. "I feel like maybe some of that shit should stay private."

Chip stood, shoving a towel under the door to light a cigarette. "Fair enough, kids. We'll work on a need-to-know-basis."

But Austin didn't need it. She had what she needed. She just knew.

Her sister had killed herself. Selfish bitch.